1 LEVITICUS OT eSOURCES COLLECTION compiled and prepared by Dr. Ted Hildebrandt Gordon College, 255 Grapevine Rd. Wenham, MA 01984 faculty.gordon.edu—Biblical Studies Dept. For my students and students of the Bible 2004 2 Table of Contents for Leviticus Articles at Gordon College available online in *.doc, *.pdf, *.html, and audio *.mp3 Compiled and prepared by Ted Hildebrandt Gordon College, 255 Grapevine Rd., Wenham, MA 01984 freely available at: faculty.gordon.edu – Humanities/Biblical Studies Dept. also available are: Bonar’s Commentary on Leviticus (518 pgs.), Barrick’s Dissertation on Lev. 26 (244 pgs.), and Kurtz’s Sacrificial Worship of the Old Testament (450 pgs.). any errors or suggestions write to: [email protected] Enjoy! Barrick, William D. “The Eschatological Significance of Leviticus 26.” Paper presented at the National Evangelical Theological Society, Nov. 1999. p. 4 ---. “Inter-Covenantal Truth and Relevance Leviticus 26 and the Biblical Covenants.” 1999. p.36 Cole, H. R. “The Sabbath and the Alien,” Andrews University Seminary Studies 38.2 (Autumn 2000) 223-29. p. 56 De Young, James. “A Critique of Prohomosexual Interpretations of the Old Testament Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha,” Bibliotheca Sacra 147 (588) (1990) 437-54. p. 63 Feinberg, Charles L. “The Scapegoat of Leviticus Sixteen,” Bibliotheca Sacra 115 (1958) 320-33. p. 81 Gardiner, Frederic. “The Relation of Ezekiel to the Levitical Law,” Journal of Biblical Literature 1 (1881) 172-205. p. 95 Helm, Robert. “Azazel in Early Jewish Tradition,” Andrews University Seminary Studies, 32.3 (Autumn 1994) 217-26. p. 129 Hubbard, R. L. “The Go’el in Ancient Israel: Theological Reflections on an Israelite Institution,” BBR 1 (1991) 3-19. p. 139 Hui, Timothy K. “The Purpose of Israel’s Annual Feasts,” Bibliotheca Sacra 147 (1990) 143-54. p. 156 Jastrow, M. "The So-Called 'Leprosy' Laws." Jewish Quarterly Review (1913-14) 357-418. p. 168 Key, Thomas and Robert Allen. “The Levitical Dietary Laws in the Light of Modern Science,” Journal of the American Scientific Affiliation 26 (1974) 61-64. p. 230 Klingbeil, Gerald. “The Anointing of Aaron: A Study of Leviticus 8:12 In Its OT and ANE Context,” Andrews University Seminary Studies 3 38.2 (Autumn 2000) 231-43. p. 240 Leder, Arie C. and David A. Vroege. “Reading and Hearing Leviticus,” Calvin Theological Journal 34 (1999) 431-42. p. 253 Masterman, E. "Hygiene and Disease in Palestine in Modern and in Biblical Times." Palestine Exploration Quarterly 50 (1918): 13-20, 56-71, 112-19. p. 265 Moore, M. “Haggo’el: The Cultural Gyroscope of Ancient Hebrew Society,” Restoration Quarterly 23 (1980) 27-35. p. 297 Paton, Lewis B. “The Holiness-Code and Ezekiel,” The Presbyterian and Reformed Review 26 (1896) 98-115. p. 306 Peritz, Ismar J. “Woman in the Ancient Hebrew Cult,” Journal of Biblical Literature 17 (1898) 111-48. p. 324 Rodriguez, Angel M. “Leviticus 16: Its Literary Structure,” Andrews University Seminary Studies 34.2 (Autumn 1996) 269-86. p. 362 Ryrie, Charles C. “The Cleansing of the Leper,” Bibliotheca Sacra 113 (1956) 262-67. p. 380 Strawn, Brent A. “The X-Factor: Revisioning Biblical Holiness,” The Asbury Theological Journal 54.2 (Fall, 1999) 73-92. p. 386 Ukleja, P. Michael. “Homosexuality and the Old Testament,” Bibliotheca Sacra 140 (1983) 259-66. p. 406 Unger, Merrill F. “The Significance of the Sabbath,” Bibliotheca Sacra 123 (1966) 51-59. p. 414 End p. 420 4 The Eschatological Significance of Leviticus 26 Copyright © 1999 by William D. Barrick. Cited with permission. William D. Barrick, Th. D. Professor of OT The Master's Seminary Sun Valley, CA At the outset of this paper I wish to draw attention to its incompleteness and imperfections. Many factors have contributed to this condition, not the least of which was the flooding of our household in the week prior to ETS. The reader will note that there is no formal conclusion. This paper is presented as a work in progress intended to incite its author and its readers to a more extensive study of Leviticus 26 and its eschatological significance. The Book of Leviticus is not noted for its eschatological content. Its theological focus is on holiness.1 As the people of God, the Israelites were called to holiness in their worship and in their daily living. Chapters 1--7 present the elements of a sacrificial system providing for an outward manifestation of individual and corporate covenant communion. The chief purpose of the sacrificial system was to exhibit continual fellowship between the people of the covenant and the God of the covenant. Chapters 8-10 define the priestly ministry. The priests were the caretakers of the covenant relationship exhibited in the sacrificial system. Chapters 11-15 describe the purity Yahweh required of His people in order that surrounding nations might recognize Israel's identification with Him. The covenant community was summoned to a lifestyle distinct from neighboring nations. Chapter 16 reveals that the Day of Atonement provided the community with an annual renewal of the covenant. That day highlighted the sovereign rule of Yahweh over the nation of Israel. The divine Suzerain blessed His covenanted people by granting them His continued presence among them (16:16; cf. vv. 1-2). Chapters 17-24 prescribe in detail the ordinances by which the covenant community was bound. This legislation affected their diet, social relationships, religious leadership, calendar, and center of worship. The calendar (chapter 23) focused on the seventh month with its three major observances (vv. 23-43). Eschatological overtones in the realm of kingship and kingdom were especially prominent in the New Year celebration (also known as the Feast of Trumpets, vv. 23-25).2 Chapters 25 and 26 emphasize the monotheistic and sabbatical principles that were the two great supporting pillars of the Sinaitic Covenant (cf. 25:55-26:3 and Exod 20:2- 11). Gerstenberger admits that Isaiah 61:1-2 together with Luke 4:16-21 suggests that Leviticus 25 should be read eschatologically. He himself, however, found nothing 1 Philip J. Budd, Leviticus, New Century Bible Commentary (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1996), 34. 2 For arguments against connecting the Old Testament New Year festival to an enthronement festival, cf. Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 2 vols. (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1965), 2:502-6. See, also, Norman H. Snaith, The Jewish New Year Festival: Its Origin and Development (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1947). 1 5 The Eschatological Significance of Leviticus 26 2 Barrick, National ETS, November 19, 1999 eschatological in the Levitical instruction concerning the year of Jubilee.3 On the other hand, Gordon Wenham correctly connected Christ's quotation of Isaiah 61:1 with Leviticus 25. rOrD; ("release") in Isaiah 61:1 is the same term employed in Leviticus 25:10. It seems quite likely, therefore, that the prophetic description of the "acceptable year of the Lord" was partly inspired by the idea of the jubilee year. The messianic age brings liberty to the oppressed and release to the captives.... ... The jubilee, then, not only looks back to God's first redemption of his people from Egypt (Lev. 25:38, 55), but forward to the "restitution of all things," "for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells" (Acts 3:21; 2 Pet. 3:13).4 The twenty-sixth chapter of Leviticus has been the threefold victim of perpetual neglect: (1) In the synagogue it has been avoided because of its unpleasant subject matter.5 (2) In commentaries (past and present, Jewish and Christian) it has been given sketchy treatment. (3) In materials dedicated to the concept of covenant in the Old Testament its covenant affinities are rarely discussed. Occasional references, however, demonstrate that some biblical scholars are aware of its significance in the realm of covenantal studies. Thirty-five years ago Delbert Hillers placed this section of the Torah on a par with Deuteronomy 28: In the first place, the prophets did employ much traditional material in composing their threats of doom. This is not a new idea by any means, but it is worth pointing out that the parallels gathered here fully support it. Secondly, this inherited material in the prophets is related to the Israelite tradition of curses as preserved in Deut 28 and Lev 26.6 The many similarities between Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 catapults the former pericope into the same sphere of significance as the latter. Meredith Kline tantalizingly suggested that the curses of Deuteronomy 28 were "anticipated in the promises and threats ... in Leviticus (chap. 26)."7 Assuming Mosaic authorship for both pericopes, it is perfectly consistent with the composition of the Pentateuch to assume that Leviticus 26 was written prior to Deuteronomy 28. It could be argued, therefore, that the latter passage is an exposition of the former. Leviticus 26 consists of parenetic revelation given at Sinai on the threshold of Israel's wilderness wanderings. The pericope's relevance is best understood in the light of the apparent tension with the Abrahamic Covenant created by the promulgation of the Mosaic Covenant. After three disturbing apostasies at Sinai, Leviticus 26 explained the relationship between the two covenants and reemphasized the exclusive lordship of 3 Erhard S. Gerstenberger, Leviticus: A Commentary, The Old Testament Library, trans. Douglas W. Stott (Louisville, Ken.: Westminster John Knox Press, 1996), 398. 4 Gordon J. Wenham, The Book of Leviticus, The New International Commentary on the Old Testament, ed. R. K. Harrison (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1979), 324. See, also, the extensive discussion of the eschatological implications of Jubilee in John E. Hartley, Leviticus, vol. 4 in Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas, Tex.: Word Books, Publisher, 1992), 446-48.